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A Freak Snowstorm and What Happened to my Farm

It was big news late last week that a powerful storm was approaching the northeast and that was no exaggeration. Now, unfortunately, this storm’s aftermath is big news, with widespread damage to trees and bushes and many thousands of people without electricity in frigid temperatures. This freak storm hit when most trees still had their leaf canopies. The snow was very wet and extremely heavy, causing trees to bend and split and branches to snap and break, taking electric lines down with them.

Here at the farm, chores are performed according to an established schedule, which is followed year after year. No one anticipated being dumped on by a foot of snow in October. Many of my tropical plants were still outdoors, as a new hoop house for their winter storage is nearing completion. My crew had taken precaution for heavy frost, not snow, by draping those plants with plastic sheeting. The boxwood hedging was scheduled to receive its burlap wrapping during the weeks before Thanksgiving, which would tuck the shrubs away nicely for the harsh winter. This storm really opened my eyes to the fact that we just cannot rely on what we’re used to as the “norm” for weather anymore. I want to thank my grounds crew for all of their hard work leading up to this storm and especially those who were able to help over the weekend during their days off. Unfortunately, there is now so much more work to do!

66 The pinetum has very young, smallish trees and I don't think any were damaged.

67 Big branches snapped off in the giant trees upper canopies.

68 Here we are silhouetted in the snow - I'm on Rinze and Betsy's on Ramon.

69 The hay fields were pristine, but the trees around the perimeter were badly damaged.

70 This maple tree lost three or four major limbs - It will have to be removed. The horses didn't like the snow falling off the trees one bit.

71 More broken maple limbs at the contemporary house

72 This apple tree is laden with wonderful apples on branches still full of leaves. No wonder the trees broke!

73 More apples and leaves beneath a blanket of heavy snow

74 The roadside trees are also badly damaged, despite a recent careful pruning.

75 Even the wonderful beech trees were damaged.

76 Big broken branches in the old sycamore trees

77 It's so odd to see these poor tropicals shivering in the snow.

78 These fucrea need to be in a warm sunny place, not in the snow.

79 All the tropical plants were hastily moved into the equipment shed, where they will reside until the new hoop house is finished.

80 You can see the guys busy moving the tropicals, using the John Deere and its loader.

81 The white wisteria topiaries all snapped.

82 This is a very sad garden.

83 This is the vegetable garden fence encrusted in show.

84 It looks pretty amazing like this.

85 The long pergola was OK, but the pear trees and the cypress trees were really badly broken.

86 Two more wisteria snapped off

87 This is another giant boxwood bent under the snow.

88 Riding across the middle hay field

89 This is the boxwood allee to the stable. We did not dare to knock off the snow until it warmed up, so as to not break the branches.

90 The fencing was almost solid with snow.

91 The beautiful boxwood was really splayed out by all the snow.

92 I was happy not to have lost any of these tall pines.

93 Three of the five horses were out in the field blanketed against the cold.

94 The horses were wondering where all of their delicious green grass was.

95 My house across the paddock

96 Again - pretty, but so damaging

97 A view towards the cutting garden

98 Fortunately, the lilac allee was not too badly hurt.

99 At the Maple Avenue house, a big white river birch broken

100 Later in the day even more snow had accumulated.

AFTER THE STORM

I keep hearing reports about how badly trees and property were damaged as a result of this recent storm. In New York City’s lovely Central Park, they are counting more than 1,000 trees ruined. My friend, Gregory Long, CEO of The New York Botanical Garden sent out the following letter concerning the devastation to the landscape of that National Historic Landmark.

Dear Friends:

The unexpected snowstorm on Saturday hit NYBG hard. The combined force of snow and high winds struck trees in full leaf across the Garden's landscape, tearing limbs from large trees and crushing smaller specimens. Our initial assessment shows that thousands of trees have sustained some degree of damage. A complete appraisal will take weeks, as much of the damage is high in the canopies of trees 100 feet tall or more.

Approximately 15% of the 15,000 trees in the Garden’s Thain Family Forest have been affected, and many trees in the historic magnolia collection have been seriously damaged, even destroyed. The Blue Atlas Cedars in the Benenson Ornamental Conifers also felt the storm's impact, and in the new Azalea Garden, huge branches fell on new plantings and an ancient tree was lost. The entire 250 acres of the Garden is littered with branches and tree limbs.

Our dedicated Horticulture staff has been working around the clock and will continue their efforts into the foreseeable future. The restoration can only be accomplished with the support of the private sector—we do not anticipate that any government agencies will be able to help.

Despite these formidable challenges, we are committed to our 120-year tradition of stewarding a uniquely beautiful and treasured landscape and serving as an important center for learning about and preserving the natural environment. Together we can continue to restore our native Forest and protect the extensive living collections across this landmark site.